Delmore Schwartz

Poet

Delmore Schwartz was an influential American poet and short story writer known for his exploration of love, identity, and existential themes in works like 'In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.'

Born
December 8, 1916
Died
July 14, 1966
Quotes
28
Rank
#2577

About Delmore Schwartz

Delmore Schwartz — Life and Legacy

Delmore Schwartz was a prominent American poet and fiction writer whose work delved deeply into the complexities of love and identity. His notable piece, 'In Dreams Begin Responsibilities,' encapsulates his belief that our dreams are intertwined with our obligations, reflecting a profound understanding of the human condition. Schwartz's writing is characterized by its psychological depth, often exploring the inner conflicts that define personal identity. His quotes reveal a worldview that grapples with the tension between aspiration and reality. For instance, his assertion that 'In dreams begin responsibilities' highlights the burdens that accompany our desires, suggesting that dreams are not merely fantasies but come with real-life implications. This perspective challenges the notion of dreams as purely liberating, instead framing them within the context of duty and consequence. Schwartz's exploration of love is equally poignant, as he portrays it as a force that shapes identity while also revealing vulnerabilities. His reflections on love often convey its bittersweet nature, illustrating how it can lead to both fulfillment and heartache. This duality resonates with readers, making his work relevant in contemporary discussions about relationships and self-discovery. Today, Schwartz's quotes continue to resonate, offering insights into the struggles of identity and the complexities of human emotion. His ability to articulate the contradictions of life invites readers to reflect on their own experiences, ensuring his legacy endures in literary and philosophical conversations.

Quote collection

Delmore Schwartz quotes (page 1 of 2)

28 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.

Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"What was the freedom to which the adult human being rose in the morning, if each act was held back or inspired by the overpowering ghost of a little child?"

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"Major writing is to say that which has been seen, so that it need never be said again; so that which has been seen increases, changes in reality, in being."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"How the false truths of the years of youth have passed!Have passed at full speed like trains which never stoppedThere where I stood and waited, hardly aware,How little I knew, or which of them was the oneTo mount and ride to hope or where true hope arrives."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"Poetry must be as new as foam & old as rock."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"Love is the most difficult and dangerous form of courage. Courage is the most desperate, admirable and noble kind of love."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"Order and disorder, form and formless must have profound psychological roots, nervous roots."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"O your life, your lonely lifeWhat have you ever done with it,And done with the great gift of consciousness?What will you ever do before Death's knifeProvides the answer ultimate and appropriate?As I for my part felt in my heart as one who falls,Falls in a parachute, falls endlessly, and feels the vastDraft of the abyss sucking him down and down,An endlessly helplessly falling and appalled clown:This is the way the night passes by, thisIs the overnight endless trip to the famous unfathomable abyss."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"The Jew is at once alienated and indestructible; he is in exile from his own country and in exile even from himself, yet he survives the annihilating fury of history."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"And hence the poet must seek to be essentially anonymous, He must die a little death each morning, He must swallow his toad and study his vomit as Baudelaire studied la charogne of Jeanne Duval."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"How could I think the brief years were enough To prove the reality of endless love?"

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"Each minute bursts in the burning room,The great globe reels in the solar fire,Spinning the trivial and unique away.(How all things flash! How all things flare!)What am I now that I was then?May memory restore again and againThe smallest color of the smallest day:Time is the school in which we learn,Time is the fire in which we burn."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"Where the light is, and each thing clear,Separate from all others, standing in its place,I drink the time and touch whatever's near,And hope for day when the whole world has that face:For what assures her present every year?In dark accidents the mind's sufficient grace."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"I got married the second time in the way that, when a murder is committed, crackpots turn up at the police station to confess the crime."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"At the moment I'm so exhausted that I feel like cutting my throat, so the next news masy well be that I am across the river and under the trees: what is the meaning and purpose of life? Death."

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Delmore Schwartz Poet
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"I admired my father very much... at the age of sixteen. But now I see that he was a brutal and cruel man, - but not without remorse, and that was what tortured us, his alternations."

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